Well in case anyone wants to estimate what the selling price for the barn door might be if a company took it on, or in case any companies/people are interested in taking it on themselves, this should give a rough idea of what's involved in turning it into a ready-to-install product:

1. Two molds are required (inner skin and outer skin). After molding the two parts get bonded together and trimmed and the wiper motor access hole cut. The wiper motor access cover gets trimmed (it's molded in the window opening of one of the other molds which would otherwide be waste). A bunch of holes need to be drilled: wiper shaft, washer nozzle, wiring entry. A fiberglass shop would probably deliver the assembled halves, bonded and trimmed for $200-$250. Cost of making production molds from my masters would probably be $750-$1000. (My molds cost me about $50 to make both, but they're prototype molds, not suited for mass production). Molds and parts would cost less if the company has fiberglass capabilities in house, these costs are based on costs for similar items from a fiberglass company I've worked with in the past.

2. Wiper motor to be sourced, about $80. Wiper arm to be sourced and if none off-the-shelf can be found a custom wiper arm could be manufactured, probably $20 in small quantities.

3. Wiring to be sourced/manufactured. There are two parts - a harness that goes inside the door to connect to the wiper motor (and optionally to the defroster grid, if one is to be installed) and the second part is the "extension cord" that connects factory hardtop wiring on driver's side routed to passenger side to connect to barn door. Probable cost for wiring harnesses to be manufactured in small quantities is $50 for both. I've worked with a wiring company on another project in the past that could manufacture these. A piece of washer hose also to be sourced to extend washer to door, $5.

4. If it's to be painted by the factory, now's the time to do it. Probably a hardtop color match. Cost undetermined.

5. Window to be sourced, probably an RV-style "clamp-ring" window. Expected cost $30 unless defroster grid is to be included, that could add $50-$100 to the cost of the window. I'm currently working with an RV window company on another project and they could do these windows.

6. Wiper motor, washer nozzle and wiring installed. Wiper motor access cover drilled and screwed in place. Labor cost undetermined.

7. Mounting hardware to be sourced/manufactured. Least expensive method is "stakes" as I've done, basically two pieces of rectangular tubing with 2 tabs with bolt holes welded to each. Probably $25 per pair including plastic end caps. I'm working with a hardware company on another project right now that could manufacture the hardware.

8. Mounting bolts to be sourced. 4 8mm x 75mm stainless hex bolts, 4 8mm x 70mm allen button head machine screws, 12 stainless washers, 8 acorn nuts.

9. Once piece of weatherstrip sourced and applied to the inside of the door. The JK-specific piece of weatherstrip necessary is available aftermarket for $15 wholesale (I've got a contact at the company that makes the weatherstrip).

10. Installation instructions need to be written and printed.

11. Packaging for shipment.

I'm not in business and don't sell anything, so I have no plans to do bring the barn door to market, but the above list should give a pretty good idea of what would be required.

 

Just read through this thread... AMAZING work you do! Also wanted to say that I bought the tailgate hinges you designed for my JK and love them. My kit was missing a bolt, but Retrofit Offroad addressed the issue very quickly and had MORryde send the bolts by the next day. I am thinking about ordering your side mount Jerry can holder that you designed also.

I really like the barn door. I hate having to pop up the rear hardtop glass every time I load and unload my dogs and groceries. I really hope a company picks this up and brings it to market. I tried going through your list of costs to produce the Barn Door and I have to admit I got lost.... I blame the paint chips I ate as a child, LOL. What would you ballpark the retail price IF a company produced these? Thanks
Beth

 

Thank you! Having had a barn door on my LJ Safari cab for over 4 years now, it's really a struggle to go back to the two-action tailgate/liftgate on the JK. Glad you like the hinges! They're turning out to be very popular, lots have been sold. The side mounts are also getting excellent reviews; the company has built them to the same high quality standards so I'm sure you'll be happy with them.

Not-so-funny story about popping up the hardtop hatch: yesterday afternoon after removing the barn door and replacing the glass hatch I returned the JK to Heather, who had some errands to run. When she got back she told me the hatch almost hit her in the face - she opened the tailgate (but not the hatch) to get out a package, and apparently the top of the package caught the bottom of the lift glass and caused it to fly open. It just missed her. I told her relief is in sight, just have to paint the barn door .

I'd guess "hard costs" for each barn door would be $450, assuming the company outsources its fiberglass work. If they do their fiberglass work in-house, maybe that would come down to $350. I haven't counted assembly labor other what's included in the fiberglass costs, so that would have to be added in, and the cost of painting them, if they were to be painted by the company. Seems like a "ready-to-install" barn door would have to retail in the $1000 range at a minimum, but that could vary a lot depending on the cost structure of the company. That's another reason I don't really think it's worthwhile to get them to market - how many barn doors could be sold at $1000+?

 

Another barn door on the way... I'm also working on a "soft barn door", think of it as a soft upper for the tailgate. It will be compatible with the factory hardtop, and because it's not fiberglass and doesn't have a wiper or wiring, it probably could be a retail product for $300 or so. I've built both fiberglass and a soft barn doors for my LJ Safari, and the soft barn door is a great option. Here's a few photos of it:



And I'm also thinking about the possibility of putting a glass window in the soft barn door. I recently finished up the JK half door slider retrofit kit project, which installs a glass slider in a factory canvas upper, so there's no reason the same thing couldn't be done for the soft barn door as well.

 

I've got to decide what color to paint the barn door... mostly this depends on the color I'm going to paint the rest of the Safari Cab hardtop, which isn't quite decided yet. The color of the roof panel is still very much undecided, but most likely I'll paint the sides of the hardtop the same color as the Jeep, which means that the barn door should also be body color. That means until I finish the hardtop/while I'm still running a factory hardtop, the Jeep will look as it does in the illustration at left. If I were keeping the factory hardtop, I'd probably paint the barn door the same as the hardtop. These illustrations aren't as accurate as I'd like because it's really hard to color-match to a salt-encrusted Jeep, but I think they're close enough to give a reasonable idea of what the Jeep would look like for the short term.



The most likely color scheme for the Safari Cab will be black over cherry. I'd do a white roof but Heather doesn't care for a white roof, and it is her daily driver so she gets the deciding vote. I'm still open to suggestions on the color scheme though.

 

Absolutely love that cab and think the Black over Cherry would just make it standout a lot better than going all black or all red. IMO if you go with an all black top and paint the whole barn door black its going to make it look like a replacement door. With that though going 50/50 on the door would be my second option.

 

Being old school in more ways than one, I think this would look great with the roof top being ivory or old English White, just like the old Land Rovers were, with matching white painted wheels. Yup, I am getting quite old.

 

I agree, but like i said, it's my wife's daily driver so she gets more votes than I do on the color and she doesn't want white. Oh well.

 

I'm with you on the top color of white Heeper I just remember an early post about his wife not liking the white. The white top is a true classic combo and today my back is telling me I'm getting old too!

 

I'll buy your soft barn door prototype, if you will part with it.